Family Secret
by Goma-Ryu
Summary: Every family has that one secret no one is suppose to know about. Charles d'Artagnan is about to find out his family secret the hard way.
1. New ownership

DISCLAIMER: I do not own BBC The Musketeers

* * *

"And such, I give to my grandson, Charles d'Artagnan, the family house."

Charles sat next to his aunt when the lawyer mentioned what his grandpa had left him upon his death and it seems he inherited his grandpa's house. The same house that has been in the d'Artagnan family for at lest five generations.

"Are you sure you read that right?" Aunt Elsa asked, looking a little concern for her nephew.

The lawyer went back to the middle of the page with a magnifying glass and nodded. "Yes. It says right here Charlies d'Artagnan is to inherit the family house that has been in our family for five generation's."

The family in the room looked at one another in concern but Charles was excited. It was a large farmhouse like house that he heard stories that the house was built around an old barn, still keeping the barn intact and part of the new house. When you walk into the house, you walk right into the barn and when you walk into the kitchen you walk out of the barn. The basement was added under the kitchen while his family added the second floor to the barn and the bedrooms went up there, some of the rooms added off the barn.

"Charles, would you mind of one of us takes the house?"

Charles looked at his family like they were crazy. "Why? Do you think I can't take care of the house?"

"Well, you're only twenty-three years old and it is a big old house that requires time and responsibility."

Charles stood up, not believe what his family was saying. They didn't believe he could take care of a family house! He loved that house just like the rest of the family and would never let anything happen to it. "I think I can take care of a house just like the rest of your. You're all telling me I need to be an adult and take responsibility and yet you sit here and say I can't do this. Well, grandpa left me the house and I'm going to take it!" He walked out of the room to get some air. He couldn't believe them and they were his family. Now if his friends say anything like that he would just laugh at them because they would be joking but never would he have thought his family would say such things.

After thirty minutes he finally cooled down and went back inside, ready to grab the keys that belonged to him and go to his house. Before he went inside he sent a quick text to his friends and then opened to the door in time to hear the family talking.

"Can you believe he left the house to Charles?"

"I know. I would have thought he would have left it to one of us."

"Maybe if we tell…"

"NO! We do not tell him a thing. For all we know nothing has happened."

Charles had enough and walked in to make his presence known. "Tell me what?"

The family spun and looked guilty as hell but kept their composers. Not getting an answer Charles walked over to the desk and held his hand out to the lawyer, knowing he had the key. Once the key was in his hand he walked right out of the room once more and never looked back. He was going to show them he could do this. He could take care of the family house and he was going to have help too.

"Do you mid telling us why you asked us to meet you're here?" a voice said to his right the moment he walked out of the building. He smiled and turned to see his three best friends. Aramis and Porthos looked a little excited to be there while Athos just stared at him like he interrupted his TV time.

"Remember when you guys said we should find a house big enough for all of us to live in since neither of us like where we live now?"

"Yeah. I think we can all survive one another under one roof," Aramis said. "Why do you ask?"

Charles held up the key and smile. "I think I just found a house big enough for all four of us."


	2. New place

Okay, lets try this again. I think I got it this time :)

* * *

Aramis, Athos, and Porthos got out of their cars and just stood, mouths open, as they took in the large farmhouse that they will now be calling their home. Charles had told them all the details of the house: family room, living room, large kitchen, basement, and five bedrooms upstairs with two bathrooms. The best part of all this was that it was all theirs now.

"You guys alright?" Charles laughed, watching his friends as he set his bags on the ground and looked at the house as well.

"Sorry but this is a beautiful house than what you described," Aramis said, picking his bag up and walking towards the house. He was a little worried about moving everything here, with all their furniture between them he was worried stuff wouldn't fit in the house but Charles said furniture was taken care of. Anything in the house now belonged to him so all furniture was theirs so they all put their furniture in storage incase they needed them.

"Are you sure you're okay with us staying here?" Porthos asked.

"Of course guys," Charles said, walking up the stairs to the deck. "I will admit, I am in need of some help, some being the key word, to keep the house up and running…and showing my family I can do this." That last part was whispered and not meant to be heard by his friends but they heard it anyway. He opened the house, feeling the difference from when he just visited to being the homeowner, and smiled at the pictures that still hung on the wall.

"Charles, this is beautiful," Porthos said, not one for poetry. The house was large on the outside but on the inside it was almost like a second house. His phone went off and he pulled it out and looked at his friends. "Movers are ten minutes out with our boxes."

"Then we have time for a small tour of the house," Charles said. He set his bags on the floor and held his arms out. "Of course this is the family room and over here is the living room. Athos, I'm sure you will enjoy some of the books my grandparents have. Aramis, this one if for you." Charles walked into the kitchen, passing the stairs that separated the family room and living room. "Aramis, welcome to a chiefs dream come true."

Aramis took in the large kitchen complete with an island, more counter and cabinet space than he's seen before, a brand new state of the art refrigerator and freezer, a large table that could seat ten people, and a hands free faucet. He walked over to Charles and pulled him into the biggest hug that he actually thought he heard one of his ribs crack. "Charles I love it!"

"Plus, you have a great view of the fields and garden out back."

Aramis, Athos, and Porthos walked over to the backdoor and opened it to see a bare field and bare garden. They knew Charles would be in charge of that, since he's told them he's helped in the field when he was kid with his grandparents.

"And Aramis, you will have fresh vegetables to cook with too," Charles said with a smile. "Fresh corn, green beans, lettuce, onions, and peppers." He walked out to the grass and motioned them to follow. He led them to a well-kept barn and smiled at Porthos before opening the doors. "Porthos, since you like building and carving this is for you. A table complete with all tools you need, all the wood you need and we can get more wood with the trees that's on this property."

Porthos ran to Charles and, like Aramis, pulled his friend into the biggest hug and lifted him off the ground. "You really know how to spoil us."

"Well, I dragged you guys to almost in the middle of nowhere away from friends and family so the lest I can do is make you guys at home," Charles laughed as he was set down. "Rooms upstairs you guys can have first pick. I've slept in all them when I was kid so I'm not picky about the rooms."

They made their way back to the house just as a van pulled up with their boxes. They helped the movers get their things and once all their boxes were piled in the living room they just looked at one another and silently decided to tackle all that in the morning.

"Do we have food in here?" Aramis asked, wanting to get to cooking.

"Yup. I got what we would need until I can get the fields going," Charles said, looking around the kitchen. He was looking for the door to the basement so they had a place to put some boxes they didn't need at the moment but it seemed the door had disappeared.

"Looking for something?" Porthos asked, sitting at the table.

"Yeah. There was a door to the basement in here but I think they covered it up." Charles started knocking on the wall where he remembered the door to be and smiled when he heard the difference in knocks. "I wonder why my grandparents covered the door up."

Athos pulled out his pocketknife and sliced a long line where Charles pointed and pulled some of the wallpaper away, only to reveal plaster. "It would seem they really didn't want people to know there was a door here. It'll take awhile and a mess to clear out this plaster."

"Then we'll tackle it tomorrow," Aramis said, walking into the kitchen with a box marked "kitchen" and set it on the table. "I will not have you making a mess in my kitchen when I'm cooking."

"We created a monster," Porthos laughed. "He already thinks this is his kitchen."

"I can always cook," Charles threatened.

"Hell no! You can't even cook a frozen pizza without burning it," Porthos said, claiming defeat. "Come and get me when dinner is ready. I'm going to check the barn out and see what I can work with."

Charles watched Porthos go out the back, Aramis went to work on cooking dinner, and Athos went to the living room to check out the books his grandparents had. He himself went to the back porch and sat in one of the chairs, watching the grass and trees blow in the wind with a smile on his face. This house he loved as a kid was now his and he was going to show his family he can take care of the house. With some help of course.


	3. The journal

Three months have passed since the four friends moved in and with it came some unusual stuff going on. For instance: just last month Porthos walked down the stairs and happened to look at the family pictures that hung on the wall and noticed one picture upside down. Aramis would be baking cookies and placed them on the cooling rack only to find one or two cookies missing while his back was turned. Athos would walk into the living room and find the light above the chair he always sat in on when he knew he turned it off. Lastly Charles would wake up in the middle of the night with the feeling of someone's hands around his throat. Of course them being adults, and not wanting to sound like children, they never told one another what they've experience.

Now it's early in the afternoon and Aramis is in the kitchen making a batch of brownies for their office snack day and he turned around when Athos walked into the kitchen, hammer and chisel in hand. "What do you think you're doing?"

Athos looked at Aramis and the hammer. "I'm going to get through this plaster. We need to put some of the boxes in the basement and I'm almost through."

"Not while I'm baking and cooking," whined Aramis and he covered the brownies with a towel.

"I'm not needing the chainsaw anymore," Athos laughed, remembering last month when he had to use the chainsaw to get through and Aramis nearly blew a casket. He knew working with a cook was hard but Aramis took it to a whole new level. They were ordering out for the dinner at the time but he still got upset. "Where are Charles and Porthos?"

"Charles had to meet some classmates for a project and Porthos is in the barn making some shelves for our rooms."

Athos nodded and went to work on the plaster. He didn't know it was going to take him almost three months but things have been happening while he's been working on it. Some of his tools went missing, which meant some of the tools Porthos uses went missing, some of the electric tools would stop working half way through, and he swore Charles's grandparents had filled some of the holes with cement. All in all it has taken him three months to get through the plaster and he swears he's almost done.

"So how do you like the house?" Aramis asked, making small talk as he gathered stuff for dinner.

"Not too bad. I think I like it better than the houses I've lived in." Athos took the hammer to the chisel and went to town on the plaster.

"Nothing out of the ordinary?"

Athos stopped and turned to find Aramis just watching him. "Describe out of the ordinary."

"Like stuff going missing."

"Well, now that you mention it. The tool's I need for this go missing half the time and some how show back up in the barn. You?"

"Sometime cookies go missing off the cooling rake."

"I have seen Porthos take a cookie or two when your back has been turned." Athos smiled and went back to working. He wanted to get to this basement door before Charles got home. He kept on chiseling until almost an hour into working he finally made a hole he could see the door through. "Finally."

"Make it through?"

"Yeah." Athos worked even faster and in thirty minutes he had the whole basement door uncovered. He turned the doorknob, only for the door to stay shut and the knob not turning. "Are you serious?"

"Now what?"

"It's locked! All this work and only to find it locked." Athos set the tools on the table and shook his head. "Hope Charles has a key."

At that moment Porthos walked into the kitchen, sawdust covering his shirt and jeans, and smiled at the door. "Well look what you finally achieved."

Aramis took one look at the kitchen floor and threw down the towel he had on his shoulder. "That's it! Athos, get a broom and clean up that plaster. Porthos, go up and change out of those clothes and then clean up all that sawdust. I swear you two are messier than Charles and his classmates when they come in from class with the munchies."

Athos and Porthos smirked at one another before doing what Aramis bid. As Porthos passed the brownies he looked at Aramis and grabbed a brownie before taking off down the hall to the stairs.

"PORTHOS!"

Athos laughed as Aramis took off after Porthos, leaving him in the kitchen. He grabbed the broom and went to work on cleaning up the plaster. He figured he would clear the rest of the plaster off the main wall as he went so he grabbed a garbage bag and went to work. It seemed the plaster was now easier to break apart with his hands and he was almost done when he saw something black sticking out of the plaster. He pulled it out and flipped it over and opened it to find it was a journal. "Charles, what is wrong with your family?" he whispered. He stood up and sat at the table, opening the journal.

 _January 22, 1798_

 _I am writing to welcome my seventh child into this world, Charles d'Artagnan. My wife had given birth to him no more than ten minutes ago and everyone is doing fine and healthy. I believe my oldest, Alice, is starting to hate us for having all these kids because she's the one that has to help but I can see it in her eyes she loves her siblings to death. My second oldest, John, is another story. Between having to help with the kids and help with the slaves, his moods seem to have changed. He seems to be short with his brothers and sister and very nasty to the slaves. I try to be a fair slave owner, giving the more wood in the barn during the winter and longer breaks during the summer, but I fear his nastiness will cause the slaves to become hostile. I am thinking of maybe having son Johnathon and Jacob take over watching the slaves and give John a few weeks off._

 _To make matters worst, our crops have not been growing like I was hoping for. We rely on these crops for our supper and to sell for money but it seems this past month has not been in our favor. The corn has been rather small while the rest of our crops have been rotting. As much as I was happy in the beginning of Charles birth I am also fearful because I fear my children will starve by next year._


	4. Basement

Charles pulled in the driveway, parking his car next to Athos, and grabbed his backpack from the passenger seat before getting out of the car. He hoped Porthos had saved him some dinner since the project took way longer then he wanted but they had to get this done since it was due in two days. As he walked towards the porch he had looked up and saw someone in the window in one of the rooms and figured one of his friends must have heard his car and checked to see who was coming up the driveway. That was one perk of living with police officers. They are very protective and if things don't look or sound right they investigate right away. He opened the front door and the smell of chicken hit his nose.

"Porthos! You better not have eaten my dinner!"

"Then get your skinny ass in here before I do!"

Charles set his backpack by the door and walked into the kitchen, a plate of food placed where he normally sat and he smiled at Aramis before taking a seat. "Thank you Aramis." He looked around the kitchen and saw the basement door uncovered and plaster free. "Hey, you got the basement door free."

"But it's locked," Athos growled, glaring at the door. "I do hope you have a key."

Charles shook his head as took a bite of his chicken. "I'll have to look around and see if grandpa has any keys lying around." In mid bite he suddenly had a flashback when he was little, running around the house chasing someone and stopped in front of the basement door. Somehow the person he was chase had went into the basement without the door opening. He went to turn the knob but his aunt has slapped his hand and pulled a key from her pocket, locking the door. He watched her walk over to the counter and threw the key in a drawer. Charles set his fork down as he stood up and walked over to the counter. He opened it up and, though Aramis had filled it with whatever kitchen utensils he needed, he found a key in the very back.

"Well what do you know," Porthos said.

Charles smiled and put the key in the lock on the door and laughed when the door finally opened. "Looks like we can take some of our boxes down." He felt a cold gust of wind when he opened the door but he chalked it up as the door being closed for so long.

"First sit and eat," Aramis said, snapping his finger and pointing to his chair. "Don't think I've noticed you skipping meals to go do homework."

"Yes mother." Charles sat back down with a grin.

"Need I remind you that since you've started this class you have not been eating?"

"I've been forgetting to eat."

"How do you forget to eat?" Porthos asked, grabbing the bowl of mash potatoes.

"Not all of us have stomachs of steal." Athos grabbed the bowl of potatoes before Porthos could finish them off and handed the bowl to Charles when he was done. "Charles, did your grandparents ever tell you about anyone in your family? What they did when they arrived in America?"

Charles set his fork down and thought about that question. He remembered one his cousins telling him what his mother told him about their family but they never went into detail. "Not really. I just know they came from Gascony and built this house around a barn. I thought I remembered some of my aunts saying something about our ancestors were slave owners." He looked at Porthos with sincere sadness.

"They call it the past for a reason," Porthos said, laying his hand on Charles shoulder. "We can't help what our family did back when it acceptable."

Aramis raised his wine with a smile. "Very well put my friend."

"Why do you ask?"

Athos pulled the journal from the floor and handed it to Charles. "I found this in the plaster."

Charles picked the journal up and fanned through it. "In the plaster? That's a weird place to put a journal." He was in awe when he read the dates and looked at the basement door. His family never let him down there, always locking it or slapping his hand away when he wanted to go down. He got up from the table and walked over to the basement and opened it before going down the stairs. He was going down there this time with no one to stop him.

"You alright Charles?" Aramis asked from the doorway.

"Yeah. I've never been down here before and I want to see what they were hiding from me," replied Charles. He turned the light on and just looked around, taking in boxes stacked up everywhere. "What the hell were guys keeping from me?" he asked no one. He walked over to a stack of boxes and opened one up to see what was in there and all he found were pictures. Old pictures.

"Young man, if you don't get up here right now and finish your dinner I am coming down there and dragging you back up."

Charles rolled his eyes and turned to head back up the stairs. Tomorrow he was going to come back down and look through the pictures and maybe get some idea of what his family was hiding.


	5. So it begins

_July 10, 1798,_

 _John had just told me he knows of a way to make Charles better. Charles is still sick and I fear his time will come to an end soon but if what John had told me, I can save him at the cost of a slave. It's not selling the slave but rather trading a life for another and has heard this works very well from some town's people. A part of me knows this is not the way but another part of me, sadly that is winning, wants to try this to save my son. He says we just need a young soul in exchange for Charles soul and God will let my son live. There are some slaves that have children that I've watched them play and there is one little boy who seemed to have taken a liking to Charles when he was born. I wonder if maybe that liking will be enough. I will ask John for more information and if this child will do because as a father I will do what I can to save my son._ "

After cleaning up dinner, washing dishes, and Aramis pretty much forbidding Charles from going down to the basement after spending two hours down there after dinner, they all went into the living room to relax before they retired to their rooms. Athos went back to reading the journal, Aramis and Porthos were cleaning their guns, and Charles was looking through a box of pictures, laughing and showing his friends some pictures he found.

"Why didn't people write names on the back of pictures?" Charles complained, making a pile of pictures with names and no names. Mostly the pictures with names were his Great Great Grandparents to his grandpa's family while the ones with no names must have been his Great Great Great Grandpa's family.

"To drive you crazy," Porthos laughed, holding his gun up to see if it was clean. "Make sure you take one of Aramis's brownies before he takes them into work tomorrow. The guys eat those all up."

Charles grinned at Aramis. "Already took one after dinner."

"Seriously? Do you and Porthos not know how to ask?" Aramis asked. "Next time you two are making the brownies."

"I thought we agreed Charles was not allowed near the stove," Athos asked, looking up from the journal.

"Well I'm sure I can…"

BANG!

"What the hell was that?!" Charles asked jumping from his seat and stared at the kitchen entrance.

"Stay here Charles," Athos commanded, following Aramis and Porthos, who were already heading towards the kitchen with their guns drawn. He slowly made is way behind his friends and turned the lights on in the kitchen. There, lying in the middle of the kitchen was the pan of brownies that Aramis had pushed all the way to the wall of the counter.

"What the hell?" Aramis asked, setting his gun on the counter and picked up the brownies. "How the hell did they end up on the floor?"

"There is no way that could've happened unless someone shoved it off the counter," Porthos said, gun still drawn as he walked around the kitchen, checking everywhere to make sure no one was in the kitchen.

"What happened?" Charles asked from the doorway, a little afraid to go into the kitchen.

"Aramis's brownies fell on the floor," Athos said; hand out to keep Charles where he was. He felt uneasy being in the kitchen and since they were police they would handle whatever was happening.

"How did that happen? They were pushed all the way to the wall!"

"Calm down Charles," Aramis said, keeping his voice even. "Go on back to the living room and…"

Thump

"Now what?" Porthos pushed passed Charles and walked to the stairs where the thump was heard. "Who's up there?"

Thump, thump, thump, slam.

"Guys, that the hell is going on?"

Porthos looked at Charles, who was shaking ever so slightly, and was now getting pissed. "Stay here with Athos. Aramis, come with me and we'll get to the bottom of this."

Aramis patted Charles on the shoulder as he walked passed his friend and followed Porthos up the stairs. Sure the thing in the kitchen was a little weird but these sound he could figure out. Someone was in the house.

"You check those rooms and I'll check these," Porthos said, pointing to the rooms to the right. He opened one bedroom and turned the light on to see. He checked the closet, under the bed, and even checked the window to find it closed. The next two rooms came up the same as the first. He waited for Aramis in the hall and when his friend came out of the last room he knew Aramis didn't find anything.

"Porthos, there is no one up here," Aramis whispered. "What is going on?"

"I'm not sure Aramis but we have to keep it cool for Charles. This is his house and the last thing we need is for him to feel unsafe in a house he loves."

"So how do we explain this to him?"

"We'll cross the bridge when we get there. Maybe we're all tired. We've worked long hours and Charles is always up too late working on homework so maybe this is all part of our imagination."

"Imagination doesn't push a pan a brownies off the counter," Aramis muttered as he made his way down the stairs. He noticed Athos and Charles went to the family room and looked up as they made their way down the stairs. "There's nothing up there."

"So what made those noises?" Charles asked.

"Not sure," Porthos said. "Look, it's starting to get late. Let's go to sleep and I'm sure tomorrow everything will be as it was."

Charles looked at them like they were nuts but Aramis and Athos seemed to be agreeing with Porthos as Athos stood up and motioned for him to get up as well. "Are you sure it's okay?"

Porthos put his hand on Charles shoulder and ushered him up the stairs. "Aramis and I checked all the rooms and found nothing. A good nights sleep is all we need right now." Once he got Charles in front of his room he opened the door and pushed him in. "Go to sleep."

"You can go to sleep after what happened?"

"I can because I know there is nothing here. We'll figure this all out tomorrow when we get home from work."

Charles nodded, having no choice but to except Porthos answer, and laid down on his bed. He listened his friends went to their rooms and got ready for bed themselves and hoped that tomorrow will be better.


	6. Trapped

"Aramis, for the last time, they were only brownies," Athos said from his desk, reading over his report before sending it to Captain Treville.

"Only brownies? Athos, they were not only brownies. They were brownies made with love and care! You can't get that at a store," Aramis complained, looking at the store bought brownies he picked up on their way to work.

Porthos laughed from his desk and took a bite of his brownie and looked at Athos. "He is right you know. His are so much better than this."

Athos shook his head, but deep down his friends were right but he had other things on his mind. He really didn't want to come into the work today, not after everything that happened last night, but when they got up to leave he checked in on Charles and smiled when his friend was dead to the world. Nothing happened during the night so here they were, at work and bored out of their minds.

"I kinda wish that something would happen," Porthos said. "I keep eating all this food I'm going bust."

Aramis got up from his chair and walked over to Porthos desk, taking his plate and dumping it in the trash. "I am making lasagna with breadsticks and salad for dinner tonight so you better not eat all this junk food. That goes for you too, Athos," Aramis pointed as he spun to look at his friend. Not only had he made it is vow to make sure Charles ate but he also made a vow he would feed these men healthy food from now on but it seems they don't understand that part at the moment.

"Aramis, I can eat all this food plus two helpings of dinner tonight. You don't have to worry," Porthos laughed pulling out a paper plate from his desk drawer.

"Why do I even bother making sure you all eat healthy?" Aramis asked. His cell phone rang from inside his drawer and with a look at his friends he walked over to pull it out. He looked at the name calling him and paled a little.

"Who is it?" Athos asked.

"It's Charles…Charles?... Slow down Charles I can't understand you… Where are you?.. Charles, you're breaking up… Charles?..."

"Aramis, what is going on?" Athos demanded.

"I don't know. It was hard to make out and we lost connection." Aramis dialed Charles's cell phone again but it went straight to voice mail. "He's not answering now. All I caught was he was in the basement and he sounded a little scared." Aramis grabbed his jacket on his chair and without looking back headed straight for the door. Something didn't sit right in his gut and his friend was in trouble so job be damned.

* * *

Charles was in the fields, basket of corn on the ground, has he checked on the vegetables. He saw Aramis's note saying he wanted to see if the lettuce was ready for their salad that night for dinner and he decided to kill two birds with one stone and pull the corn that was ready and check on the rest of the vegetables. He smiled when some of the lettuce was ready to be used and picked them up. So far his morning was good and was surprised he had actually got a good nights sleep after the events that took place.

"Just a little hiccup in owning a home," Charles said to himself as he picked up the basket. "We were all tired and our imagination got the best of us." He walked out of the fields to pass the garden to make sure some of the fruit was good when he heard what sounded like singing coming from the cornfield. Setting the basket down, he walked over to the corn and looked around the rows to make sure no one was playing a trick on him. Images of when he was child running around the backyard chasing a little boy and passing strange people in the fields while his grandparents were inside came to mind. The same little boy he chased in the house but for the life of him couldn't remember his name. The cornfield wasn't a big one so all he had to do was stand in one spot and he could see it all and he saw no one but the singing still continued. It wasn't coming from any neighboring houses so he ruled that out so maybe he was hearing the singing in his head. He's heard that people say they heard music in their head like it was coming from headphones.

"Snap out of it Charles. Maybe you need more sleep." Charles spun back to pick up the basket up and made his way back to the house. This afternoon he planed on putting pictures together and for once calling his Aunt Elsa, the only aunt who support him throughout this whole ordeal, and see if maybe she knows who are in the pictures. As he reached the back porch he heard someone giggling behind him and spun around to see a small five-year-old black boy waving at him and taking off. Charles set the basket back down and took off after the boy.

"Jamal!"

Charles stopped and his eyes went wide at the name that just rolled off his tongue. Jamal. That was the little boys name he used to play with all the time here but he hasn't aged. He was still the same five-year-old boy he chased around the house and yard. He watched as Jamal ran towards the side of the house and followed him to watch him go through a door. He never remembered a door being on the side of the house before and he didn't know where it went too. He checked the doorknob and smiled when it turned and the door opened. Well, he might as well see if he can find Jamal. The stairs went down instead of up so that meant this door went to the basement. Taking the stairs carefully as they creaked under his feet, he made his way to the bottom and looked around a small room with only another door on the other side.

"Jamal? You down here?"

SLAM

Charles jumped and took the stairs two at a time to see the door that led outside had closed. He tried the doorknob only to find it locked. With a sigh he went back down the stairs and crossed his fingers the door in the room was unlocked. "Jamal, this is not funny. I know you like to play but I have stuff to do." Charles walked to the door and almost cried when the door was locked. He was trapped in the basement that apparently had a door to this room and no one knows about it.

 _"_ _A life for a life."_

Charles froze at the scratchy voice that spoke up behind him. It sounded female and he couldn't help but start to shake. He slowly turned around and came face to face with at, what looked like to him, four human shadows. With his eyes on the dark shadows he took his cell phone out of his pocket and called the only people he knew would help him. Luckily all his numbers were on speed dial so he just hit one of the three buttons and held the phone to his ear. So far the shadows just stood there, staring at him without eyes to stare.

"Aramistherearefourshadowsstaringatmeandican'tgetout…There are four shadows staring at me and I can't get out…I'm in the basement…Aramis?" Charles took his phone from his ear and saw that his cell had died. Like completely died and wouldn't even turn on. His fear factor just skyrocketed and hoped Aramis got to him quickly.

 _"_ _A life for a life."_

Charles looked up from his phone and screamed when the four shadows came at him with a wail.


	7. Reveal

I hope I got all the family relations right. I've been looking at my tree and going by that for relations so I apologize if things don't add up but I'm sure you all know what I'm getting at, lol.

* * *

Porthos was the first one to run into the house, looking this way and that for Charles. "CHARLES!"

"Did you find him?" Athos asked, walking in with Aramis behind him.

"No. Check upstairs. Aramis, check the basement and I'll check this floor and out back." Porthos took off into the kitchen after a quick check of the family room and living room. He stepped out on the porch and looked around the yard. "CHARLES!" He took two steps on the stairs when he looked down to see a basket of corn and lettuce. Charles was here. "Where are you boy?" Speaking of boy, Porthos saw a small boy dart around the side of the house and he took off to see who was in the yard. "Hey boy, get back here." He watched as the boy went through a door and of course he was seeing things because no one can run right through a door. He tried the doorknob and cursed when it was locked.

"PORTHOS! Aramis found him!"

Porthos spun around at Athos's voice and took off back to the backdoor. When he got into the kitchen he looked around but couldn't find Charles until he saw Athos take off down the basement. Following his friend he could hear Aramis talk to someone but there was no answer. He saw Aramis kneeling by a door doing his best to pick the lock and listened very carefully and he hears the sound of crying coming from the other side.

"He behind the door?"

"Yeah but it's locked," Athos said.

Porthos walked over to Aramis and helped him up before turning to the door. "Charles, I need you to listen to me. If you are by the door I need you to move away if you can because I'm going to bust the door in. I'm going to count to three… One…Two…Three." Porthos started to throw his body at the door and after four throws the door finally gave and opened.

Aramis pushed past Porthos and walked over to where Charles was sitting in a corner, tears running down his face and overly breathing. Running his hands over the boy's body he found no broken bones or bruises. "Charles? Charles, I need you to calm down, alright?" He took Charles's hand and pushed it against his chest over his heart. "Follow my breathing and feel my heart. In…Out…In…Out…Very good, keep going."

"He going to be alright?" Athos asked quietly, not wanting to scare Charles.

"Yeah. Just a small panic attack," Aramis said, keeping his eyes on Charles. Once he deemed the boy better and the tears stopped rolling, he stood up with Charles in hand. "Now lets go back upstairs and I'll make you a nice cup of hot tea to calm you down, yeah?" Getting a nod from Charles he walked him out of the basement, wanting badly to ask questions but not wanting him to go back into a panic attack. Once he was in the kitchen he pushed Charles into a chair and went about getting the tea ready.

"What happened down there?" Porthos asked, sitting across from his friend and earning a glare from Aramis.

"They kept saying a life for a life," Charles whispered.

"Someone was in the house with you?"

"No…Yes…I'm not sure how you want to classify four shadows of two men and two women."

"Shadows?"

"Yeah. I was out in the fields and I heard singing at first and then I saw Jamal running towards the side of the house. I found the door and it was unlocked so I went to see if Jamal was down there, like the game we used to play as kids, and got locked down there. When I called Aramis I saw these four shadows down there was me and they just kept saying, 'A life for a life.'"

"Jamal?" Athos asked, walking into the kitchen from the living room with the journal.

"When I was a kid and would visit my grandparents, Jamal always came out of the fields and played with me. We would play hide-and-seek and swing on the tire swing out back."

Athos opened the journal and slid it over for Charles to read.

 _July 12, 1798_

 _It worked! I cannot believe it but it worked. Two days ago I did what I never thought I would do in a million years to a child but Charles was only to last a day. Though my son is finally getting better, Jamal's brown eyes still haunt me as I sleep. The poor five-year-old child was so scared but I told him he was going to help make Charles better and he seemed to have calmed down a little at that. John had showed me the book he bought and helped me set everything up in the little room in the basement. No one goes down there anyway and everyone was out for the evening while the slaves in the barn. It didn't take long and I made sure John made it fast and painless, which from what I saw he did. Jamal might be dead but Charles now lives and that's all a father could ask._

 _To this day I still don't know where John buried Jamal's body. He told me right after everything was done to go and stay with Charles and he would take care of everything. Now Charles is smiling instead of crying, he's eating instead of throwing it all up, he feels much cooler when he was burning with fever. I pray I would never have to go through this ever again._

"They killed him?" Charles asked, setting the journal aside. "They killed Jamal?"

"So it would seem," Athos said.

"But he was child? A little boy and they killed him just so Charles could live?"

Porthos took the journal and flipped through the pages. "Charles, how is this Charles related to you?"

"I'm not sure. I never actually thought to look into the family name and even if I did, I would get very little information."

"There is always someone in the family that does family history," Aramis said, understanding where Porthos was going.

Well, I remember my Aunt Elsa had showed my father some papers and said this person is related to us and this person is related to us this way. I was going to have her come over and see if she knew who any of those people are in the pictures."

"Invite her over for dinner," Aramis said.

"Dinner?... Oh my gosh I'm so sorry guys. I pulled you away from work."

"If by work you mean sitting at a desk and eating junk food then you should be sorry," Porthos said. "I had a cupcake with my name all over it." Porthos smiled when he got a small laugh from Charles and knew he made the boy feel better. This wouldn't be the first time their friend called them at work with a problem.

* * *

"Oh Charles, I love what you've done with the place," Aunt Elsa said, looking around the house. "Father would be so happy to see you taking good care of the house."

"Thank you. I've had some help. Athos actually helped me replace some of this board because we found some termites."

"Well my dear you are doing a very good job. Those stuck up sisters of mine don't know what they're talking about. Plus, I'm sure Alexander would be so proud of you as well…Now, how about introducing me to your friends."

Charles smiled and walked his aunt to the kitchen. "Aunt Else, this is Aramis over there getting dinner ready. That's Porthos who's trying to sneak a cookie from the cooling rack. This is Athos, the serious one out of all of us. Guys, this is my Aunt Elsa."

"Ah, I believe I remember your picture," Aramis said, dropping a spoon he used to hit Porthos hand, and took her hand in his before placing a kiss on the top of her hand. "I must apologize for Charles father for being the only boy in the family."

"Yes, our family doesn't produce males as often."

"Yeah, one boy and five girls. No wonder your father gave up when he had Alexander," Athos said with a smile.

"When you only have one boy at a time in a family you learn to deal with all the females. My grandpa had seven girls and one boy. The only family that had more boys was my Great Great Great Great Grandpa John. He had at lest four boys and four girls."

Porthos pulled Else's chair out for her and pushed her in with a smile. "Wow. I came from a big family myself."

"So Charles, you wanted me to look at some pictures you found in the basement?"

"Yeah, but first did you know grandpa covered the basement door up?"

"Yeah. It was right after your accident."

The kitchen went quiet as Aramis, Athos, and Porthos looked at Charles. "What do you mean? I've never had an accident here?"

"When you were six years old you were running around the house and when you ran past the basement you tripped and fell down the stairs. My boy the knot on your head was so big we took you to the hospital. When you woke up you didn't seem to remember the fall so we left it at that. After that dad covered it up."

"I do remember the basement though. I was playing hide-and-seek with Jamal." He watched as his aunt went pale and knew he was asking the right person. "You remember Jamal too, don't you?"

Elsa gave a sad smile and looked around the kitchen as Aramis set food on the table. "Go ahead and get your food and I'll tell you what you need to know. When I did the family tree it was hard work. No one was telling me anything, like they were keeping a secret. I went to these websites, made family trees with what I had and pretty soon I got a hit. One of our cousin's from my Great Great aunt's side of the family got ahold of me and we just started talking. I told her who I was and what I was looking for and she told me this. She had found a journal that had belonged to our Great Great Great Uncle John. John was the oldest brother of Charles, your Great Great Great Great Grandpa.

In our family tree there is only one boy to the family name as it went down. We talked about that and she said it was the family curse. In John's journal he talked about witchcraft and killing slaves. His first kill was…"

"Jamal."

She looked at Charles and frowned. "How did you know?"

"We found Great Great Great Great Great Grandpa John's journal in the plaster that grandpa covered the basement with. When Charles got sick John said his son told him a life for a life…"

"And there is our connection," Porthos said.

"What on Earth are you boys talking about?" Elsa asked, a little worried.

"I saw four shadows in the basement that kept saying, 'A life for a life' and I didn't know what that meant until now."

"He and I also saw Jamal," Porthos said. "Little black boy about this high. Ran right through the door on the side of the house he did."

"When I told the family what our family done we started noticing odd things happening around the house. Giggling, doors slamming, someone walking, things moving, and such. We also noticed it was only happening to the males of the family. Charles, you were chasing Jamal that day and when you ran past the basement I watched as a black shadow appeared out of nowhere and push you down the stairs."


	8. Activity

_December 20, 1798_

 _I can feel there is something wrong in my house. I felt it since John had sacrificed Jamal and Charles got better. I have noticed since the sacrifice of Jamal, Charles would be looking around at someone, staring at nothing and smiling at no one. Though nothing seems to be happening to Charles at the moment, my sons and myself, however, have noticed scratches on our backs and arms. Jacob had told me he would hear singing in his room and Jonathon said he felt hands around his throat. John, on the other hand, as been very quiet and there is something in his eyes that doesn't sit well with me. Also I have noticed some of my slaves missing. John told me they are sneaking out at night and he would take care of it but he has yet to tell me or even let me into the barn._

 _My wife has told me she would hear footsteps walking around when we are all outside and Alice told me on numerous accounts that she has seen the missing slaves in the basement but when she would go up to them they would disappear. My God what is happening in my house?_

Charles sat on his bed with his back up against the headboard, staring at the journal for who knows how long. He knew his aunt had left a couple hours ago, a little after dessert and he excused himself after that, wanting to be alone with his thoughts. Elsa said as she did the family tree all the males have died around the age of 60 years old and Great Great Great Great Grandpa Charles was the only one in the family to have at lest one male on his side of the family. His Great 5x Grandpa John died at 60 of a heart attack. His Great 4x Grandpa Charles died at the age of 55 of a sudden fall down the stairs in the hallway. Great Great Great Grandpa Thomas died at the age of 61 by getting hit by a car. Great Grandpa Bruce died at 57 from pneumonia. Grandpa James also died of a heart attack at 60. And lastly his father, Alexander, was murdered at the age of 58. Oh, and she did say that all the males in this house has had some kind of experience of scratches, pushes, and the feeling of someone trying to choke them.

There had to be some way to explain all this without going towards the word cursed but that's what he was coming up with. It all made perfect sense to him, though not to his 5x Great Grandpa, and it all came down to his 4x Great Uncle John and his so called "life for a life". The slaves must have known what had happened to Jamal and those that knew must have been the ones who have gone missing. He remembered one of his friends told him there were some slaves that were into witchcraft, casting spells or curses on those who harm them and he was wondering if maybe one of his ancestors slaves must have be into that because curse is still all he's coming up with. Did one of the slaves, before they were killed, cast a curse on his family? Only the males since it was father and son who did the first kill and it seemed none of the women in the house has been harm.

"You okay?" a voice asked from the doorway. Charles looked up to see Aramis walk into the room and sit on his bed. "That was a lot to take in."

"How can someone do such things? How can someone just kill a kid and think it will help? Sure, it was my ancestor and without him I wouldn't be here but still, what if he had gotten better without killing Jamal? Maybe what Charles had just needed to run it's course and by some coincidence he started to get better?"

"Charles, there is no way to know what took place back then. Back then this was acceptable and believed would work to cure illness and help with poverty. The import thing right now is to try to figure out how to help these souls."

"Help?"

"Charles, when someone has died unexpectedly or badly there are times their souls do not go where they need to be and they are stuck here on this Earth trying to find some peace. These slaves that were killed here must not have had a proper burial nor a proper funeral. Just buried somewhere without no one knowing they are there and before you ask, I am sure this John person has been killing the slaves due to the power he found he has over the slaves."

"How do they know about me? How do they know about my family today if they are dead?"

Aramis shrugged his shoulders. "I do not know. The dead have a strange way of remembering their life and things that happen that we cannot explain." Aramis stood up and patted Charles on the shoulder. "Tomorrow we'll figure out how we're going to help these souls, so for now let's get some sleep."

Charles nodded and watched as Aramis walked out of his room, closing the door behind him. Truthfully he didn't want to be alone in his room but then he didn't want to look like some baby to his friends, whom all seem to be taking this very well, so he sucked in a deep breath and lay down on his bed, hoping to get some sleep even with the feeling of someone watching him. He was letting the noises of his friends walking about, talking, laughing, and the occasion yelling from Aramis at Porthos who took another dessert.

He must have dozed off because he woke up and saw it was nearly two in the morning. Rolling over in bed he took in the silence of the house so his friends must have went to bed while he slept, which was saying he must have needed to the sleep because he always wakes up when Athos uses the bathroom. Closing his eye he tried to go back to sleep when he heard someone walking in his room. Opening his eyes he went to turn the lamp on but his arms felt heavy, like someone was sitting or kneeling on his arm to keep them to his side and bed. His breathing picked up when he felt breath on the back of his neck and then a burning sensation on his back. With a scream he shot out of bed with strength that seemed to come out of now where when the bathroom door opened.

"Charles?"

"Someone's in here," Charles whispered, voice shaking as his back burned.

Athos nodded and walked around the room, though he had a feeling he knew what Charles was really saying, and made his way to his friend who didn't push from the corner he must have shot too. The room did feel colder than his room and he didn't know if Charles shaking was from the cold or fear but he knew he his friend wouldn't feel safe in the room by himself. "Come on to my room and we can talk about it."

Charles nodded and followed Athos out of his room with much relief. Once safe in his friend room he felt himself relax and sat on the bed, head in hand. He didn't lift his head when Athos walked over and sat down next to him and laid a hand on the back of his neck. "There was someone in there with me."

"Just take deep breaths and tell me what happened."

"I woke up a few minutes ago and rolled over when I heard someone walking around in my room. I opened my eyes and of course there is no one there but when I went to turn the light on it felt like someone was holding my arms down. I felt a breath on my neck and then a burning sensation on my back."

Athos lifted the back of Charles shirt and gasped at four long scratch marks running down his back from his neck to the waist of his sleeping pants. "Let me get some alcohol. There's four scratches on your back." He stood up and walked into the bathroom, grabbing the rubbing alcohol and rag before sitting back down. He went to cleaning the scratches while his friend took in deep breaths. "I'm beginning to think this is the reason why your aunts didn't want you to have the house."

"Me too and if I'd have known I would not have invited you guys."

Athos gave a small laugh as he lowered Charles's shirt. "They are not after us so there for we are fine. It is you we are worried about."

"Aramis said he's going to find a way to help them."

"Then we will discuss this in the morning. Right now lets get some sleep." Athos pushed Charles down on the bed as he walked over to the other side and got in; setting the book he was reading on the table. When he got in he felt Charles move closer to his side and put his arm over his shoulder, pulling his friend closer. Charles needed some grounding and if this is what it took to get him to relax and sleep then he will do what needs to be done.

Until an hour later.

THUMP

Athos eye's shot open at the loud thump that came from within his room. He looked over to see Charles not in the bed and leaned over to see his friend sitting up on the floor, staring sleepily up at him in confusion. "Charles?"

"Athos? What…" Charles never finished his when his body was suddenly pulled across the room, through the bathroom, and into his room where the door to his side slammed shut. "ATHOS!"

* * *

Not sorry that I added in Paranormal Activity :)


	9. Pissed off spirits

So sorry it's taking me a long tim to update. I hope this chapter makes up for it.

* * *

Aramis sat in the living room, light above him turned on while his friends retired for the evening. He wanted to make sure he got everything he needed for tomorrow and wanted to make sure everything was right. He knew Charles was having seconds thoughts now about the house since his aunt told him everything the family neglected to tell him. His laptop sitting on a small table next to him dinged to let him know he got a message and opened the box to see a reply from his friend. He read through the message and nodded, glade he got a second opinion on the matter and flipped through the Bible he was reading until he found the correct page, marking the page as he went back to the message.

"Are you still up? It's almost one in the morning," a tired voice said from the stairs.

Aramis looked up to see Porthos walking into the room, half asleep and collapsed in the hair. "And why are you awake?"

"Not sure. I woke up to the sound of someone giggling in my ear and when I turned the light on my closet door closed. Can't sleep now."

"Giggling? I would imagine Jamal was behind that? That sounds like something a child would do."

"Probably. So what are you still doing up?"

"I promised Charles tomorrow we are going to put these souls to rest and I asked a friend from when I studied at the Church if the course of action I want to take might work."

"Will it?"

"Yeah. I will need for you to dig up at lest five graves behind the field. While you're doing that, I'm going to find where John had buried the slaves he killed and once I find them, I'm going to dig them up and we're going to re-bury them and give them a proper burial."

Porthos looked at Aramis like he had two heads. Surely he didn't hear the words graves, dig up, and re-bury. "I'm sorry, I must be sleeping and this is a dream. Did you just say you wanted me to dig up five graves and you were going to dig up the slaves and re-bury them?"

Aramis laughed and set the Bible down. "I did my friend and you are not dreaming. This is the only way to put these souls at rest and they need a proper burial with a proper prayer."

Porthos shook his head and looked at Aramis. "Why five? Wouldn't there be more?"

"I'm thinking five right now. Charles said he saw four shadows and then we have Jamal…"

"Who doesn't seem bothered about being a ghost." There, he said it. He's been denying this whole time but now he was going to admit the house was haunted. "I've always wondered that."

"I have a feeling it has something to do with Charles. When Charles went to his room, I asked his aunt if any of the other men in the house has seen Jamal when they were kids but she said to her knowledge, they never said anything. I'm thinking Charles had a gift when he was child and saw Jamal and just saw another little boy to play with."

"Can we at lest keep him?"

CRASH

Porthos shot up from his chair while Aramis turned his head when the sound of glass hitting the floor. Porthos walked around the chair he was sitting in and stared at the glass that covered the floor behind his chair and then looked at the small table where a vase used to sit. "Aramis, that was the vase that was sitting on the table."

Aramis got up from the chair and walked over to his friend. "It would seem someone wasn't happy with your suggested on wanting to keep Jamal. So I'm going to assume that one of the spirits here is Jamal's mother or father, though I'm going more towards mother."

"Should we be…" Porthos stopped when he heard someone walking around the kitchen and looked at Aramis before walking down the hall to investigate and when he walked into the kitchen he had to duck when a glass cup flew at his head. Turning to see the glass shatter on the floor, he spun around when he heard more noises and was shocked to see the cabinets suddenly fly open and the chairs that sat at the table where pushed across the room in all directions. "Aramis. You need to get in here."

Aramis was already in the hall staring at the shattered glass when he heard the sound of something scrapping on the floor and walked behind Porthos to see the chairs fly. Pushing pass his friend, he walked into the kitchen in time to see the light above the table turn on and off and the sound of giggling. "Jamal? Is this your doing?"

"I don't remember Jamal being this mad," Porthos whispered as he was pushed from behind. The push felt like it was further up his back so he knew it wasn't Jamal. "No, I think it's one of those shadows Charles saw in the basement."

"Then it would seem they are not so happy with our intention on helping them," Aramis said. He saw the basement door fly open and the sound of footsteps running down the stairs and took off after them. When he got to the last step he saw Jamal standing by the door on the other side of the room, staring at him with a smile. "Hey there Jamal. It's finally nice to meet you."

The little boy waved and then pointed to the door before disappearing into thin air. Aramis opened the door, looking behind him to make sure Porthos was behind him incase he was locked in the room, and stepped inside. The room was a lot colder than the rest of the basement and the first time he was in there he never got a good look at the small room but now he really got a good look. On the wall, there were faded marks and on the wooden floor, more faded marks. Pulling his phone out, he snapped a picture of the floor and opened up his newest app that brought out details in pictures, which comes in handy at crime scenes, and pushed buttons until he got the picture just right.

"Everything alright in here?" Porthos asked. He saw how pale Arami's face was and walked over to his friend to see what was wrong but stopped when Aramis held his phone up for him to see. On the screen was a circle with a star in the middle, other symbols in the empty spaces of the circle surrounding the star. "Is that what I think it is?"

"It would seem the killings happened here. John didn't find a book to help but instead found a book on witchcraft," Aramis said in a sad voice. "No wonder the slaves want revenge on the family."

"If there are markings in this room, do you think the bodies are buried here?" Porthos asked, looking around the room.

"We'll need to lift the boards up so we can dig but I do believe you're right. This would be the place to bury those you kill." Aramis turned to leave when the door slammed shut. "Here we go again." He tried to open the door but it was locked. "Porthos, do your job."

Porthos went to walk over to the door but was suddenly lifted up and slammed up against the wall. "What the hell?" He tried to push off the wall but he couldn't move. "Aramis! A little help here."

Before Aramis could so much as take a step, he too was lifted up and slammed against the door, unable to move. "Porthos, this isn't good."

"ATHOS!"

Both Aramis and Porthos stopped their struggles when they heard a familiar voice yell in fear. Looking at one another they started struggling even more, knowing Charles was in trouble. Jamal suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, looking from one to another with curiosity.

"Jamal," Aramis said, keeping his voice friendly as possible. "Jamal, you have to help us. Charles is in trouble." But Jamal just stared at him. "Jamal. Do you remember Charles? Do you remember playing hide-and-seek with Charles?" Finally he got a smile and nod. "Right now Charles is in trouble. I know these spirits are your family but please, Charles is not like his ancestors and would never hurt anyone."

"If you don't want to believe him, then believe me," Porthos spoke up. "Charles has never hurt me and never treated me wrongly. Charles did forget about you but his memory was messed up but he does remember you and remembers the fun times you had."

Jamal looked from Porthos, to Aramis, and back to Porthos with a smile. The smile a child gives when they are going to do something that goes against adult rules. He ran over to Aramis and when he went right through him, he disappeared and Aramis was able to move again. Jamal appeared once more and ran towards Porthos, disappearing as he ran through the man and Porthos was now able to move.

"Now break the door down," Aramis said, hearing another yell from above them. Aramis watched as Porthos rushed at the door but as he made his way, the door flew open. "Thank you Jamal." Aramis took off out of the room behind Porthos, and ran up the stairs.

"Aramis! Porthos!"

Aramis turned around the corner of the kitchen when he heard Athos yell for them and saw his friend standing by the front door, arm around a shaking Charles. "We're here," he said, stopping in front of his friend. He noticed a bruise on Athos's cheek, and a scratch on Charles's neck. "What the hell happened to you guys?"

"Never mind, we're getting out of here," Athos said, opening the front door and all but pushed Charles out of the house.

"Where too?"

"Anywhere but here."

They ran to Athos's car as the older man opened the backdoor and pushed Charles into the car before getting into the driver seat, pulling the visor down for his extra keys to fall into his lap. Porthos took the backseat while Aramis took the passenger seat and Athos all but sped out of the driveway.

"Are you guys okay?" Aramis asked, turning to his friend as he drove a little over the speed limit.

"Not really," Athos said. "Something grabbed Charles right out of bed and dragged him into his room. Took me a good minute or so to break the door down. Got a good punch to the face by someone that wasn't even there, and I'm pretty sure Charles is going into another panic attack."

"I got the kid," Porthos said, holding Charles close to him. "We had an experience too. Got ourselves held up against the wall in the basement by the slaves."

"Turns out John was reading a book on witchcraft," Aramis said. "We found some symbols on the floor of the small room and when we got in a jam, Porthos talked some sense into Jamal and the kid helped us get out."

"Jamal helped you?" Charles asked, still shaking but now that he was away from the house, he was slowly coming around.

"Yeah. It would seem the kid is just following in his family but when we told him you were in trouble he helped us," Porthos said. "Now where are we going Athos?"

"An Inn just in town," Athos said. "I don't want Charles in that house any longer."

The ride was quiet after that, everyone just letting their bodies relax after all they've been through. The radio was on low but it was soothing and gave them all something to focus on until Athos pulled into the parking lot of the Inn. They got out and walked into the Inn, getting two rooms connected by a door. They didn't want to be away from one another. Once they got their rooms and settled into the room Athos and Charles would be sleeping, Athos told Aramis and Porthos everything that's happened.

"I would like to look at those scratches," Aramis said, sitting Charles on the bed and helping him remove his shirt. Taking in the four scratches he shook his head and walked into the bathroom for the first aid kit.

"What are we going to do?" Charles asked. "I love that house but I'm scared to be there now. I can't tell the family I don't want this house."

"I know what to do," Aramis said, walking into the room. Sitting on the bed, he told Athos and Charles what they needed to do and also what happened to them. They all agreed that at first light they were go back to the house and put Aramis plan into action.


	10. At Peace

"So the plan is for Porthos to dig up the graves for us while we go and dig up the bodies," Aramis said from the passenger seat. It was already high noon as they set off towards the house. They slept so good at the Inn that they didn't get up until almost ten and of course they had to have brunch before starting their day.

"You do realize this is morbid, right," Athos said from the driver seat, turning onto the road that leads to the house. "Digging graves and digging up bodies."

"Of course it sounds morbid because that means it will work."

Charles and Porthos rolled their eyes at the banter from the front seat. Porthos thought Aramis was crazy too but Charles was ready to try anything to get his house back under control. Once he did that, he was going to have a long talk with his family on never to keep secrets from him again.

"And we are sure that the bodies are buried in the basement?" Athos asked, pulling into the driveway.

"With the symbols I found all over the basement, yes that is where John buried them. Now, incase something happens in the basement like what happened to Porthos and I, I'm going to have Porthos first take the door leading from the side of the house to the basement off it's hinges so we have a way to get out. Plus, it will be easy to access the outside."

They all piled out of the car and walked to the backyard to the shed to gather shovels. Once they had shoves in hand, Porthos grabbed his tools and walked them to the side of the house, not wanting any of them to go inside the actual house without him, and started to take the door off it's hinges while his friends went on down to the basement. Once he had the door off, he walked back to the shed to grab his shove and start digging up graves.

"Am I going away?" a voice asked.

Porthos spun around to see Jamal standing right there, like he was alive and well. "I fear you must. Even though you don't feel it, your spirit us unrested. You need a proper burial unlike what you were given."

"Mother, Uncle, Aunt, and Cindy won't like this. They said they won't find rest until every male d'Artagnan suffers like we did."

"But Charles is not like his ancestors. Remember? He played with you and you were his best friend."

"I know but mother doesn't think so."

Porthos knelt down and crossed his heart. "I promise you, Charles is not like his family. He only wants you and your family to find peace."

* * *

"Finally!" Aramis exclaimed, wiping the sweat from his brow and looked at the dirt that lay under the floor of the basement. "Alright, let's start digging."

The three started digging, one ear listening to the commotion going on upstairs. They could hear glass break, furniture moving across the floor, and even scream and yells but they still kept going. They were going to see this through to the end.

"I found something," Charles said, putting the shovel down and shoving dirt from around some bones he found.

"Judging by the size of the bones, you found an adult," Athos said. "Must be one of the shadows you saw." He handed Charles a bag and helped him put the bones inside and all of a sudden, it felt like an earthquake, the house shaking around them, and then it stopped.

"Can we please hurry up?" Aramis asked, going back to digging. Five minutes later he found himself some bones as well. Grabbing a bag he started placing the bones in, and just like when Charles put his bones in the bag, the house began to shake but this time the sound of someone screaming in pain could be heard. Making the sign of the Cross, Aramis continued and tied the bag up, placing it with Charles's.

"Found another one," Athos said.

"It sounds like the noise is calming down," Charles said, noticing the limit of glass breaking and wailing. He watched as Athos put the bones in his bag and the process repeated. "Just two more."

"Are you guys almost done?" Porthos's voice yelled down.

"Yes. Two more left," Aramis yelled up. "Do me a favor. Go to the living room and grab my Bible from the table."

"Got another one," Charles said.

"Adult or Jamal?" Athos asked.

"Adult. Jamal is left."

"We almost dug up this whole area and haven't found the boys remains," Aramis said. "I'm sure John would've buried him here."

"Can we re-bury what we have and come back to look for Jamal?" Charles asked, listening to the silence of the house. It sounded weird to hear the silence but he welcomed it.

"I don't see why not." Aramis grabbed two of the bags while Athos and Charles grabbed the last two and they walked up to the stairs to the outside, meeting Athos half way.

"The house is trashed," Porthos said, holding Aramis's Bible. "We got a lot of replacing to do." He lead his friends to the graves he dug up, right behind the fields and took one of the bags from Aramis. As gently as he could, he placed one of the bags in the grave, watching as his friends did the same. Aramis opened his Bible up and started reading the passage he marked and he started to cover the bones with dirt.

"I really hope this works," Charles whispered.

"Have faith," Athos said, which surprised him that he even said those words. Normally it was Aramis telling him to have faith. He laid a hand on Charles shoulder as the young man bowed his head and made the sign of the Cross. He wasn't much for religion but that didn't mean he couldn't support his friends with theirs.

"May you all finally rest in peace," Aramis said, closing the Bible. "My friends, tonight will tell us if we have successfully laid them to rest."

"What about Jamal?" Charles asked.

"Oh, I think he'll be sticking around," Porthos said with a smile. He saw confusion in his friends' faces so he had them follow him to a large tree a few inches from the fields. He pointed to the base of the tree and looked at them. "I asked Jamal if his body was buried in the basement with his family but he said no and pointed to this tree."

Charles turned and walked back towards the house, wanting to see the damage and also wanting to read the journal. He had a feeling that his 4x Great Uncle John didn't bury Jamal under the tree, no, he had a feeling his 5x Grandpa John had figured it out and re-buried the boy himself. He walked into the kitchen and almost fainted at the sight. All the food in the cabinets and refrigerator was tossed all over the kitchen; most of the dishes were broken and lay on the floor and counter. The table was over turned and the chairs were broken.

The rooms in the house went as follow:

Family room: TV was pushed to the floor and screen broken. All lamps were broken, pillows were ripped and stuffing pulling.

Living room: All books thrown across the room, tables over turned, lamps broken, and chairs shoved around the room.

Bedrooms: Mirrors broken, tables over turned, beds either laying the side or flipped upside down, pillows ripped, blinds torn down and wrapped around desk chairs.

Charles stood in the middle of his wrecked room and smiled when Jamal was sitting on his upside down bed, journal next to him. He walked over and took a seat next to Jamal and picked up the journal and looking at his childhood friend. Jamal smiled at him and flipped the journal until he reached the end of the journal.

 _April 24, 1799_

 _I found him. I'm not sure what made me go down to the basement and start digging but I found where John had buried Jamal. I waited until night fell to go out to the tree I've seen Jamal play around and dig a small grave. I re-buried the boy by the tree, hoping the tree itself would make a good headstone. I pray that Jamal is the only one who suffers from my son._

"So he re-buried you yet you still hung around," Charles said.

"I liked playing with the baby," Jamal said.

"I'm sure he liked playing with you. So since you have already been re-buried and you're still here, would you like to continue to stay here?"

Which, for Aramis, turned out to be a bad idea.

"CHARLES, PORTHOS, AND JAMAL! LEAVE MY COOKIES ALONE!"


End file.
